View source for Thirty Pieces of Silver

{{trope|wppage=Thirty pieces of silver}} <!-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_pieces_of_silver -->
[[File:Thirtypiecesofsilver.jpg|thumb|500px]]

{{quote|Then one of the Twelve — the one called Judas Iscariot — went to the chief priests and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.
|[[The Bible/Source/Matthew#26|Matthew 26:14-15]] (New International Version)}}

So you're willing to betray your closest friend to his enemies, but you won't do it for free.  What's the standard going rate for a betrayal?

'''Thirty Pieces of Silver''', of course.

This is the trope of blood money, of betrayal for cash, where greed (or need) outweighs love, loyalty and friendship.  It is named for the archetypal such payment, made to Judas Iscariot by the Temple priests for betraying Jesus Christ to the Jewish and Roman authorities.  In general, the ''price'' can be anything, not just money -- goods, services, favors, influence -- but the ''cost'' is always turning in some way on someone whom you loved and/or respected and leaving them behind.  It doesn't have to be a literal betrayal to enemies, either:  betrayals of trust are very common, with secrets revealed or confidences shared.

But the exact nature of the betrayal isn't important -- just that it was done for cash on the barrelhead, or its equivalent.  

These days the [[Trope Namer]] term is almost always used metaphorically -- where can you get thirty pieces of silver these days except from perhaps a coin collector?  But that metaphor implies that what what was done was inarguably the ''absolute worst thing'' you could do to someone who trusted you.  It's usually slung at the betrayer by the betrayed or a bystander.  More generally, it represents the amount of money at which a person would completely and utterly sell out.  However, a literal thirty pieces of silver still show up occasionally, usually [[Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves|substituted for the agreed-upon price out of sadism or irony]].  (That said, it is not necessary to actually have a reference to Judas' payment for this trope to be in play -- it's the ''betrayal for benefit'', not the stock phrase, that's the important part.)

Sometimes the betrayer regrets his actions after it's too late to do anything about it, in which case they in their remorse [[Keep the Reward|return their payment]] to whomever it was who paid them.  Which is [[The Bible/Source/Matthew#27|something Judas ''also'' did -- right before killing himself]].

Compare/contrast [[Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves]].  There may be echoes of [[Silver Has Mystic Powers]] in the choice of silver to pay the [[Trope Namer]], instead of a smaller but equivalent quantity of gold.  See also [[Keep the Reward]] for a remorseful traitor returning his payment.

The specific coins paid to Judas have become a [[Public Domain Artifact]], and [[Well, This Is Not That Trope|are ''not'' this trope.]]

{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* A 1960s-vintage "weird stories"-style comic book published by [[DC Comics]] had in one issue a story about an explorer who had discovered a remote cave, on one wall of which were a series of sealed treasure containers. Upon each of the containers was written a task which, when accomplished, would open it.  The tasks started out innocent and innocuous, but slowly escalated through dubious to outright immoral -- and the explorer performed each one and reaped growing quantities of riches every time he returned to the cave to open the next chest.  The very last container -- which the progression implied contained wealth beyond measure -- was marked, "Betray your best friend."  And when he did, the explorer was rewarded [[An Aesop|with thirty pieces of silver and a snarky message]].
* In issue #5 of [[Marvel Comics]]' ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'' Daredevil invokes this trope to accuse Iron Man of betraying his friends and colleagues in exchange for power.  Upon his arrival at the prison in the Negative Zone, he is found to be carrying a silver dollar under his tongue. 
{{quote|'''Guard:''' He said he's been saving it for you.
'''Tony Stark:''' A silver dollar. I don't understand.
'''Daredevil:''' Guess that's thirty-one pieces of silver you've got now, huh? Sleep well, Judas.}}

== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''[https://www.tthfanfic.org/story.php?no=33002 Amends]'', a [[The Teraverse|Teraverse]] story by "CaptainBoulanger", Daniel Larusso describes the money he made with the [[In-Universe]] versions of the ''[[The Karate Kid|Karate Kid]]'' movies and the book which inspired them as a betrayal of Miyagi-sensei, saying, "I had taken the thirty pieces of silver, and denied Sensei three times".
* Invoked mockingly by The Master about Angelus' reward for bringing Buffy to him in [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10521339/1/Continuations-That-May-Never-Be chapter 1] of ''Continuations That May Never Be'' by "Drakensis", which is a collection of notes and vignettes which lay out the remaining planned plot and ultimate conclusion to his ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' [[Dead Fic]] ''[[Here's Your Accordion]]''.

== [[Film]] ==
* Invoked in 1991's ''[[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'' when Friar Tuck pushes the corrupt bishop out of the church tower laden with sacks of gold and [[Large Ham|"thirty pieces of silver to pay the Devil on ''your way to hell!''"]]
* A [[Parental Bonus]] in ''[[Wonka]]''. The [[Sinister Minister| "Chocolaholic Cleric"]], as he's called, is on the take for [[The Don| Slugworth]] and the Chocolate Cartel, his church containing the elevator entrance to the cartel's vault. At the climax of the movie, he has a bout of self-loathing, realizing he's a coward who has "sold [my] soul for thirty pieces of chocolate".

== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' by [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]], the trope namer is echoed in the 30 roubles which the Sonia earns for selling ''herself'', to emphasize she is betraying her own dignity and future.

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* Invoked in the episode "Finding Judas" of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''. Someone sells House out to the cops. He investigates his sworn enemies (i.e., the rest of the cast), but it turns out to be {{spoiler|Wilson, his only friend, desperately trying to save him from prison. Wilson even asked the cop for "thirty pieces of silver" to complete the allusion, because no matter how much it is for House's good, it is still a betrayal of his trust and could ruin his life and career}}.
* Also invoked in the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode "The Face of the Enemy", when William Edgars tells Garibaldi that by betraying Sheridan he has brought him closer to the truth. Garibaldi makes it very clear how he feels about his own actions when he replies, "The last guy got thirty pieces of silver for the same job."
* ''[[Farscape]]'':  It's revealed in the second-season episode "The Way We Weren't" that when she was still in the Peacekeepers, a younger Aeryn, stuck as a chauffeur for a technician, cold-bloodedly betrayed her lover Velorek in exchange for a reassignment back in space, where she felt she belonged.  By her expression when Velorek is arrested, it's clear she regretted that decision.

== [[Music]] ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir0RopB0Bkk "30 Pieces of Silver"], a 1964 [[Ska]] song by Prince Buster (covered in 2012 by [[Tim Timebomb]]).  [[Noodle Incident|We never find out exactly what happened]] but it's clear that the singer feels he has been betrayed by someone he thought was his best friend, and whom he'd clothed and supported in a time of need.

== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* As noted in the main text, the [[Trope Namer]] is the payment made by the priests to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Jesus Christ.  For those wondering how much he actually made, there is, of course, [[w:Thirty pieces of silver#Types of coin|dispute among scholars over just which of the silver coins available in Judea at the time]] he was paid in; depending on the coin, Judas got (in 2021 terms) anywhere from US$91 to $US441 for his efforts.
** Also as noted above, Judas is also the [[Trope Codifier]] for post-betrayal remorse.  In one gospel, he threw the money back at the priests, then went and hanged himself.  In another he bought a barren field with the money and then threw himself into it, where he weirdly burst open and died.  

== [[Theatre]] ==
* Deconstructed in ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'' in the song "Damned for All Time". Judas here makes it clear to Caiphas and Annas that he doesn't want to betray Jesus, but is concerned that his followers are moving away from the talks of charity and self-improvement in favor of taking on the Romans. Jesus is also not listening to reason, perhaps buying into his own ego. Caiphas agrees, and offers money in exchange for Jesus's location. Judas refuses, saying that he is not taking blood money. Caiphas and Annas convince him that it is not blood money, and he can use it to help the poor.

== [[Video Games]] ==
* A classic example combined with an allusion to the [[Trope Namer]] can be found in ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'' when Guybrush befriends Morgan, who then hands him over to the Marquis De Singe on Flotsam Island for 30,000 pieces of silver.

== [[Real Life]] ==
* In the aftermath of the [[w:1975 Australian constitutional crisis|1975 Australian constitutional crisis]], then-Governor General John Kerr was widely blamed for the crisis.  Residents of the street in Balmain where Kerr had been born [http://www.australian-politics-books.com/ccp0-prodshow/the-real-joh-kerr-richard-hall.html sent him thirty pieces of silver] to express their opinion of him and his actions.
* In 2021, evangelist Franklin Graham suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had promised "thirty pieces of silver" to the ten Republican congressmen who supported the second impeachment of [[Donald Trump]].
* According to the October 28, 1966 issue of ''Fortune'' magazine, Roger Enrico, at the time an executive for Pepsi-Cola's Venezuelan bottling franchise, said of fellow Pepsi executive Oswald Cisneros who had jumped ship for Coca-Cola:
{{quote|This guy was a personal friend ... Ozzie took his 30 pieces of silver and ran.}}
* [https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums1093-s03a-i020 An anonymous postcard] sent to [[w:Daniel Ellsberg|Daniel Ellsberg]] (now in the collection of the University of Massachusetts Amherst) compared him to Judas for leaking the ''[[w:Pentagon Papers|Pentagon Papers]]'':
{{quote|''Thirty pieces of silver was a pretty cheap price for selling out your country''}}

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